Stocks End Lower in Light Trading, Dragged by Energy; Banks Gain

Stocks finished slightly lower in lackluster trading Monday as investors remained cautious amid a lack of new market catalysts following the recent rally that helped the S&P 500 end its sixth-consecutive week higher.

"We've been 500 days without a 10 percent correction and we've got 57 percent bullishness—that gets a little scary on the contrary basis," said Art Cashin, director of floor operations at UBS Financial Services. "And it's also the year of the snake, which is the least bullish of the 12 Asian zodiac characters and it's seen some spotty events—9/11, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the crash of 1929."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 21.73 points, to close at 13,971.24, led by UnitedHealth and Home Depot. Last week, the blue-chip index failed to regain its footing above the widely-watched 14,000 level and closed lower for the week, snapping five-weeks of consecutive gains. The blue-chip index traded in a narrow 52-point range.

With the Dow'srecent rally having stalled around 14,000, analysts are mulling whether markets are consolidating for the next push higher, or poised for a correction.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.92 points, to finish at 1,517.01. The Nasdaq erased 1.87 points, to end at 3,192.00. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, finished below 13.

Among key S&P sectors, energy ended lower, while financials climbed.

Should Investors Stay Calm & Carry On?

Stocks are off to one of their best yearly starts ever. Gina Sanchez, chairwoman & founder of Chantico Global, and Dan Greenhaus, BTIG, discuss whether that's reason for investors to worry.

"We're due for some sort of pullback, but the Fed's still pushing $85 billion of new liquidity into the market every month and despite the State of the Union and some of the other bumps we've got coming–political uncertainty is much lower than it was six weeks ago," said Michael Jones, CIO of Riverfront Investment Group.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver his annual State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday.

Tesla traded lower following a review report from the New York Times claiming the car's battery drained much quicker than promised in cold weather. Meanwhile, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk said the article on Tesla's range in cold weather is "fake," adding that the reviewer's vehicle logs show that he "didn't actually charge [the battery] to max and took a long detour."

Barbara Reinhard, Credit Suisse, offers her market outlook as well as her views on the impact of the Fed's monetary policy.

Among earnings, Boardwalk Pipeline Partnersreported that its fourth quarter earnings surged by 26 percent, helping to underpin market sentiment ahead of the open. The oil and gas company saw revenues rise across all its components, beating estimates.

European shares finished in the red, continuing the previous week's pullback from multi-month peaks, ahead of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels to discuss issues which may include Greece, Cyprus, direct bank recapitalizations and competitive currency devaluations.

In Asia, bourses in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea were shut for the Lunar New Year holiday. Japan was also closed for its National Founding holiday.